Reflection Unit Two Essay

For this unit, I had a hard time figuring out how I should put my website together. A lot of questions were going through my head. As time went on, I asked you what I should do with my website and you told me to include both sides of the argument. My research question was is there more success if the baby’s father is around or if they have some other form of strong moral support. Before doing research, I believed that women can be successful without the support of a father around. In my website, I had to decide what information had to go on there and not be so one-sided. I thought of putting both sides of the argument on there. I did the benefits of having moral support and the benefits of having no support. I also did the disadvantages of the two. I decided to put bright colors because the agency I am working with is Baby Steps. At the agency itself, there is bright and fun colors everywhere so I incorporated that in my website. The images I chose was a baby walking up the stairs. Since I do Service Learning at Baby Steps, I chose that picture of the baby going up the stairs. To me I seen a connection between the two. The layout I chose was blue and had a rusty type of texture to it. This mothers have a rough and gloomy lifestyle from what I’ve seen and heard. I tried to connect Baby Steps with the rhetorical choices I made from the website. I designed my website the way I did because I felt that adding bright colors and making it fun would relate to how the agency is. The agency tries to make the mothers happy by doing fun, stress free activities. I wrote my website the way I did because I didn’t want my entire website to show one side of the argument. I had to integrate both moral and amoral support. I wanted to show people that mothers are successful with or without the baby’s father and moral support around. My thinking of rhetorical choices has changed after I did this website because I learned that certain aspects such as color choices, layouts and images affect audience awareness, research strategies, source use/integration, awareness of discourse community and argumentation. If I were to use different colors such as black and blue. It would be too serious for my audience and they would have had a different perspective on it. Being able to put both sides of the argument into my website gives my audience an idea of what low-income single mothers go through to raise a baby. I used Wysocki to help me design my website. I also had more help when we did the peer review for each other's website in class. Gloria also helped with giving me some thoughts on how to start it which was also helpful. I also used Wix because I used Wix last year and it was more easier to use. After doing this website, I learned more about the purpose of writing, the topic of my research question and different audiences. I also learned more about doing research. Primer was something I used for my discourse analysis and annotated bibliographies. It was something that was true because it was research someone else did. Bias is also in everything I read! That is also another thing that caught my attention. I developed strategies for source use and integration and I used the agency as one of my sources to back up my argument that women can be successful without the baby’s father involved. I have learned a lot from this unit alone. I’m slowly becoming a better writer by doing various things such as making websites and posting on a blog. Although, this is not your average english 102 class, now I learn how to use a blog and make a website for a second time around. I’m excited to learn how to work with videos and be able to make that. All of what I’m doing connects to English somehow. I’m learning more and more each day with just making rhetorical choices and being able to understand why I did what I did. In the end, I’m progressing with English itself and becoming a better writer. Before doing this unit, I was kind of iffy because I did not know what a discourse analysis was or an annotated bibliography was. Now I do. Here is my website:http://www.wix.com/tyadao/babysteps